Folded Bowl
Designer Beatrice Wood (1893–1998, American)
Media ceramic
Dimensions 4 1/4 x 11 3/8 x 7 inches
Beatrice Wood began making pottery at the age of 40 because she needed a matching teapot to go with a set of pottery she had purchased. She studied with Otto & Gertrud Natzler, where she learned about technique and glazes, eventually creating her own style and establishing her career as a potter. Wood is known for her unconventional shapes and unique glaze combinations, as seen here in this bowl. She signed her works “Beato,” which was a nickname given to her by a friend’s child who could not say Beatrice. Wood said that writing “Beato” was easier to inscribe on a bottom of bowl than “Beatrice Wood.”
Despite her career taking off and her busy schedule, Wood made time to become a writer and publish books in her eighties. Her life inspired many artists, including James Cameron, who claimed that Wood provided him inspiration for the character Rose in Titanic. Beatrice Wood died at the age of 105 in 1998, the last years of her life being her most productive.
ON VIEW in Modern Gallery 7
Markings Signed "BEATO" on bottom
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Accession Number 2004.0660
